Now all fathers and brothers have the opportunity to do so for 25 days: Papikyan on reserves

We have the negative experience of the 44-day war, when people had not undergone training for years or mastered the basic duties of reserve service. When the time came to be called to the reserves and fulfill their duties, they were unaware of the tasks assigned to them, and so on.

This was stated by the Minister of Defense of Armenia, Suren Papikyan, in an interview with Public Television, responding to comments about reservists being sent to the front lines under the conditions of a shortened conscription.

“We have now changed that and formed territorial defense forces, where everyone from the platoon commander to the brigade commander are active officials. They undergo 25 days of training, getting acquainted with the command staff, while the command staff, in turn, gets to know the reserve servicemen. Initially, they go through a ten-day training, then, for harmonization, these men also undergo fourteen days of combat service. I think this is very logical, and I believe it is wrong to confuse these two,” said Papikyan.

At the same time, years ago, everyone was saying that our 18-year-old boys should not be on the front lines; let their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles do it instead. Now all fathers, brothers, and uncles have the opportunity to do so for 25 days. What is the problem, especially under today’s conditions, when there are no issues at the border? What is stopping them from recognizing our border, gaining experience, and allowing conscripts to undergo combat training,” noted Papikyan.

He added that there were initially problems with the recruitment of reservists, but today they are able to achieve a 100% result.